A monster most every weekday. Three adventure seeds a post.
Because Pathfinder and 3.5 are more fun than work.
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Friday, October 30, 2015

Amanusya

Amanusyas are beguiling performers and seducers.Interestingly, they are not interested in the
seduction of souls per se, but rather
that of the body—welcoming new partners in vice, gaining new victims to toy
with or devour, and turning ascetics into the worst kind of addicts and
gourmands.Of course, if their actions
cause a victim’s soul to fall off the wheel of reincarnation and return as a
rakshasa, so much the better.

Since the last timea
party of adventurers was in town, an amanusya has reduced a once popular local
street preacher into a babbling, paranoid wreck.The adventurers might not have even noticed,
but they have been recently charged with administering a dead man’s estate by
the local magistrate.The dead man left
a sizable fortune and a public hall to the preacher, and the adventurers could
face criminal charges or ruinous tax bills on their treasure if they don't find
the preacher (and ideally ease his torment).

In the guise of a
beautiful woman, an amanusya asks the party’s help in saving her fiancée
from temptation.Apparently he has
fallen in with servants of the Nine, rejecting the 1,001 gods of the Heavenly
Panoply for the small, dour pantheon of the North.She fears his soul may be lost from the cycle
of reincarnation! The truth, though, is
that the man sought the missionaries’ help in curing his many addictions.The amanusya, certain she was grooming a
future rakshasa mate, is determined not to lose her toy after part of only one
lifetime.

A troupe of amanusyas
has permission to dance in the lobby of the Palace of Souls.Those they lure away from the Procession of
the Dead are reborn as rakshasas (typically raktavarnas). Unable to break the
letter of their agreement, some pychopomp clerks hire mortal adventurers to drive
off the troublemaking troubadours before any more petitioners are lost.

—Occult Bestiary
48

I know “amanusya” means something like “any other being but
a man” or “demon,” but all I’m finding is links to an anime.Thoughts?

Yes, I only posted about monsters twice this week—but there
is a method to my madness!(That method
involves making sure that Friday’s post is always a multiple of five in the archive, so I don't go mad.)

This week’s radio show was all about
big anniversaries: 20 years of Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and Alanis Morrissette’s Jagged Little Pill.Also a massive set of strong ’90s/’00s female
artists, plus new Grimes! The link is
good till Monday, 11/2, and you can right-click/Save As if you want to download
it. Enjoy!

By the way, please forgive the occasional typos. I am aware of them, but disagreements between MS Word and the Blogger template make my entries nearly impossible to edit once posted. I blame gremlins. You can find a more polished version of this blog over on Tumblr.